Skills for Cultural Competency

Accurately assess the influence of their own values, perceptions, opinions, knowledge, and social position on their interactions with others.

Provide and promote an atmosphere in which similarities and differences can be explored, and understand that this process is not only cognitive but attitudinal and affective, as well.

Capacity

Learn to be an ally to groups that experience prejudice and discrimination in the community. Help others learn to be an ally to their own cultural groups.

Help expand other people’s knowledge of their culture, and affirm and legitimize other people’s cultural perspectives.

Planning

Learn to embrace new, ambiguous, and unpredictable situations, and be persistent in keeping communication lines open when misunderstandings arise.

Encourage community members to see themselves in a multicultural perspective, and encourage skills-building in cross-cultural interactions and communication.

Implementation

Encourage and accommodate a variety of learning and participation styles, building on community members’ strengths.

Draw upon the experiences of participants or collaborators to include diverse perspectives in any given intervention.

Evaluation

Be skeptical about the validity of diagnostic tools applied to people who are culturally different from those upon whom the norms were based.

Understand, believe, and convey that there are no culturally deprived or culturally neutral individuals or groups, and that all cultures have their own integrity, validity, and coherence, and deserve respect.